Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Johnny Naumu
The Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was the first professional football team to play a regular season game in Los Angeles; John (Johnny) Punualii Naumu played on the team. Naumu, born September 30, 1919 (a McKinley High School graduate) played football for UH and US and went on to serve with the Hawaii Army National Guard
He retired as a Colonel, receiving numerous ribbons and medals of honor. Naumu died September 23, 1982 of heart failure playing racquetball. (As an aside, while at UH, Naumu captured the novice handball title.) He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Walter Murray Gibson Building
In 1834, King Kamehameha III organized the first police force in the Hawaiian Islands. This was only four years after the inception of London's first police force, and twelve years before that of any American city. In 1885, a site at Bethel and Merchant Streets was purchased and a brick Police Station constructed (it was built while Walter Murray Gibson was Premier and Minister of Interior.)
In 1930, this building was demolished and a new one built; the new structure is known as the Walter Murray Gibson Building (it is a three-story (with basement) Mediterranean-style reinforced-concrete building.) The Police Department left the building in 1967, when they moved to the old Sears store in Pawaʻa. The Old Police Station, or Court Building as it was also known, continued to house the District Courts.

Monday, September 28, 2015

Drying Tower
In 1870, the tallest structure in Honolulu was the bell tower of Central Fire Station, then-located on Union Street. Spotters would sit in the tower, ready to sound the alarm. Back in those early days, firefighting equipment was primarily buckets and portable water supplies. As the department grew, several hand-drawn engine companies were added.
But bucket brigades were very labor intensive and very ineffective. Hawaiʻi later used the rubber lined, cotton covered hoses. But the hoses cotton could rot, so they needed to be dried to prevent mold. As they built new fire houses, a drying tower was added to the main fire house, so the hoses could be hung up to dry.

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Protecting a Forest, Preserving a Culture
It takes 125 years or more to grow a koa log large enough for a canoe, which generally needs to be 35 to 45 feet long with a diameter of 48 inches or more (voyaging canoes require larger logs.) That period may be shortened if specific koa logs are identified for canoes now, and forestry prescriptions (e.g. thinning, pruning) are applied to favor the growth of those trees for canoe logs.
In 2004, DLNR initiated the formal designation of the Kapapala Koa Canoe Forest Management Area on land set-aside in 1989, near the Volcano National Park, in Kaʻū, on the Big Island. Here, koa trees grow tall and straight – necessary traits for core material in canoe shaping. It was the first Forest Management Area specifically designated for nurturing and harvesting koa canoe logs.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Ranks of Chiefs
Each Hawaiian was born into a class of people, and at the top were the rulers, a small but powerful class of chiefs, known as the aliʻi and in those days, the aliʻi was the government.
The aliʻi were not all equal in rank, it is just a word that people are accustomed to using – they give the name aliʻi to all those from the very high to very low rank. In olden times, the kinds of aliʻi were classified according to their birth and the height at which each aliʻi stood.

Friday, September 25, 2015

Duke Kahanamoku Beach
His family was living in a small house on the beach at Waikiki where the present day Hawaiian Hilton Village now stands. He swam, surfed, fished, did odd jobs such as selling newspapers and went to Waikiki grammar school; he would never graduate from high school.
He earned his living as a beachboy and stevedore at the Honolulu Harbor docks. Duke’s love of surfing is what he is most remembered. He used surfing to promote Hawaiian culture to visitors who wanted to fully experience the islands; he was regarded as the father of international surfing.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Shaloha
Shaloha is a conjunction of Shalom and Aloha - (the former is Hebrew, the latter Hawaiian) they each can mean peace, completeness, prosperity and welfare and can be used idiomatically to mean both hello and goodbye. The conjunctive word is used by many of the Jewish faith in Hawaiʻi. It is believed that Jewish traders from England and Germany first came to Hawaiʻi in the 1840s.
Jews from throughout the world were attracted to California and in most cases they tried it there before they came to the Islands. The first Jewish mercantile establishment was a San Francisco firm which opened a branch in Honolulu. Lasting legacies of early Jewish presence in the Islands are gifts from Elias Abraham Rosenberg to King Kalākaua: a Sefer Torah (Pentateuch) and Pointer.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Student Farmers
When the missionaries arrived and started teaching, their instruction was not confined, however, to the ‘three R’s.’ Effectively, they were teaching to the Head, Heart and Hand. That meant getting your hands dirty in learning farming skills (in addition to the regular academics and religious instruction.)
This teaching method started from the very beginning; Betsey Stockton, then the Mission Seminary at Lahainaluna; Hilo Boarding School; Kamehameha Schools, Punahou and others had manual labor on their respective farms, as well as courses in agriculture. (Lahainaluna students punched ‘in’ and out’ to keep track of their daily hours worked for their room and board.)

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Plundered
“Kalākaua’s crown has been robbed of its jewels.” “Two Crowns, one formerly worn by the late King Kalākaua and the other by his wife, Kapiʻolani, were encased in a handsome plush box.” “The most curious portion of the affair is that the crown worn by Kapiʻolani was untouched and nothing else in the trunk was disturbed.”
George Ryan (an alias, he reportedly is really known as Preston Horner) was sentenced to a “three year term for the larceny of the crown jewels”. While a few of the precious stones were recovered (including some Horner sent to his sister,) Kalākaua’s crown was repaired in 1925 with artificial gemstones.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Kapihe’s Prophecy
Spoken about three years before Christian missionaries arrived in the Hawaiian Islands with bibles and scriptures, the prophecy of Kapihe seemed to foretell the abolishment of the kapu and transformation to Christianity and westernization.
The last High Priest under the old religion, Hewahewa, served as kahuna for both Kamehameha I and Liholiho (Kamehameha II.) It was quite prophetic that, when he saw the missionaries’ ship off in the distance, he announced ‘The new God is coming.’

Sunday, September 20, 2015

‘Aim High to Reach the Heaven’
Sen Yet Young was born in the Islands (1891,) studied and graduated from ʻIolani School and received his higher education at College of Hawaiʻi (UH) and Harry University of California, majoring in mechanical engineering. “As the only Hawaiian who has mastered the art of flight, he remained to study the mechanics of the aeroplane at the Curtiss factory, before returning to Honolulu, where he will have to act as his own mechanician.”
Young’s father was a friend of Sun Yat-sen. As a youth, Young listened to Sun Yat-sen talk about the revolution in China. Sun Yat-sen saw that the aircraft would become a new type of military weapon and organized the airplane fleet. Sun Yat-sen commissioned Young as Head of Aviation Bureau and also the director of Guangdong Aircraft Manufactory in Guangzhou. Sun Yat-sen called him, the ‘Father of China’s air force.’

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Wreck of the George N Wilcox
The bark George N Wilcox “left Middleborough on the 10th of last May for Honolulu, laden with 1000 tons of coal and about 1200 tons of general merchandise. In the latter portion of the cargo were tons of Christmas goods”.
“The vessel was off the coast of Molokai and going along under close sails. Captain Wolters was on deck and ordered the sails reefed, as he did not care to reach port until the following morning.” “In going about, the current set him ashore, and the valuable ship and cargo were suddenly wrecked at five o'clock beneath the precipice of that coast.”

Friday, September 18, 2015

Myles Yotaka Fukunaga
“Your son has been kidnapped for ransom!” Gill Jamieson, 10, son of Frederick W Jamieson, vice president of the Hawaiian Trust Company, was kidnapped and held for ransom of $10,000 under the threat of death. Myles Fukunaga was apprehended a few days later after the serial numbers on the ransom money were traced.
About one hour after picking him up, Fukunaga killed the boy; he later confessed to the murder. Fukunaga was convicted and sentenced to hang despite the fact that the entire trial lasted less than a week, his court-appointed attorneys called no witnesses on his behalf, and concerns about Fukunaga’s sanity were never resolved.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Hiram Bingham: I – IV
Hiram Bingham I was ordained a minister of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM;) he led the Pioneer Company of ABCFM missionaries to Hawaiʻi. Hiram Bingham II was born in the Islands and was a missionary in the Gilbert Islands; he learned the language and began translating the Bible into Gilbertese.
Hiram Bingham III was born in Honolulu, married Alfreda Mitchell, heiress of the Tiffany and Co; he was not a trained archaeologist, but on July 24, 1911, he rediscovered the "Lost City" of Machu Picchu (he has been noted as a source of inspiration for the ‘Indiana Jones’ character.) Hiram IV was a US diplomat stationed in Marseilles, France during World War II when Germany was invading France; he helped 2,500-Jewish people escape the Holocaust.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

The Reef
To accommodate the growing commerce at Honolulu Harbor, from 1856 to 1860, the work of filling in the reef to create an area known as the “Esplanade” (where Aloha Tower is now situated) was underway. They removed Fort Kekuanohu (Fort Honolulu – then serving as a prison) and used the material “in the construction of prisons, and the filling up of the reef.”
On the ʻEwa side of Nuʻuanu stream was a fishpond. The new prison was built on a marshy no-man’s land almost completely cut off from the main island by two immense fishponds. The causeway road led to the new “Oʻahu Prison,” simply called “The Reef;” it was a coral block fortress built upon coral fill at the end of a coral built road over the coral reefs and mudflats of Iwilei.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Karsten Thot
The Karsten Thot Bridge was built in 1932 in Wahiawa over the north fork of the Kaukonahua stream. It was named after Karsten Thot, who was a prominent community-minded citizen and it was built by a prominent Honolulu businessman, who was a prolific builder.
Karsten Thot was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, on Feb. 12, 1889. He came to Hawaii in 1904. Thot died in 1932, the year the bridge was under construction. When built, the bridge was said to be an important transportation link between the North Shore and Honolulu, contributing to the growth of Wahiawa.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Ice
Refrigeration first came to Hawai‘i in the middle of the nineteenth century. “The first Boston ice brought to these islands, was received on the 14th inst. (September 14, 1850) by brig Fortunio, Hasty, via San Francisco.”
21, 1858)
Then, they started to make ice in the Islands. “Ice Manufacture. The establishment on the Esplanade for the manufacture of ice by chemical process, has been in operation during several days past.” (1871) The first home electric refrigerators sold in Hawaii were reportedly Kelvinators, introduced by the Hawaiian Electric Company in 1922.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Laʻanui and Namahana
“There were born to Nuhi and Kaohele first a daughter and then a son, the girl being named Kekaikuihala and the boy Laʻanui.” “Among the visitors to the royal court was (Namahana) Kekuwai-Piia, who had just become a widow, coming as a guest of her sister, Queen Kaʻahumanu. Laʻanui was a boy growing to maturity.”
Laʻanui and Piʻia were one of the first couples to be married by Hiram Bingham. “He was an interesting young chief of the third rank, well featured, and a little above the middling stature.” “Laʻanui was the paramount chief of the Waialua division from 1828 to his death in 1849, as well as the particular ‘lord’ (hakuʻāina) of Kawailoa, the district (ahupuaʻa) corresponding to the Anahulu River valley.”

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Royal Twins
Keʻeaumoku, Keaweaheulu, Kameʻeiamoku and Kamanawa (the four Kona Uncles) were Kamehameha’s counselors. Two of the four (Kameʻeiamoku and Kamanawa) were twins, often referred to as the Royal Twins.
They are depicted on the Hawaiian Coat of Arms. The men are “clad in the ancient feather cloak and helmet of the Islands, the one bearing a kahili (Kame‘eiamoku on the right) and the other a spear (Kamanawa on the left) as in the processions of former times.”

Friday, September 11, 2015

Joseph Paul Mendonça
He was born in the Azores Islands (1,500 miles off the coast of Portugal) on May 19, 1847; serving as a galley hand on a whaling vessel, he arrived in Hawaiʻi at about the age of 17 – he jumped ship and started working with his uncle, Jason (Jacinto Pereira) Perry (1826-1883 - the father of Antonio Perry, who would later serve on the Hawaii Supreme Court from 1900-1934.)
He met and married with Mary Anehe Sylva (1870-1962;) they had six children, each took the last name Sylva. Mendonça became active the Annexation Party. He had practical training as a carpenter and mason, and went into the construction trade. He also started to acquire land, lots of it. Mendonça died in 1927.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Kazumura Cave
The ʻAilaʻau eruption is considered the longest memorable eruption of Kilauea. (Before Pele there was ʻAilaʻau (Ai means the ‘one who eats or devours.’ Laʻau means ‘tree’ or a ‘forest.’) ʻAilaʻau was, therefore, the fire-god devouring forests. When Pele came she took over as fire goddess, ʻAilaʻau left.)
The ʻAilaʻau eruption took place from a vent area just east of Kilauea Iki. The eruption probably lasted about 50-years, from about 1420 to 1470 AD. Reminders of past eruptions are lava tubes. One such, as a result of the ʻAilaʻau eruption is Kazumura Cave – it has been called the longest (over 40-miles) and (to some) deepest lava tube in the world and the deepest cave in the US.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Kaʻawaloa
Kealakekua translates as 'pathway of the gods' and is one of the most significant historic and cultural places in Hawaiʻi. It was selected by the aliʻi as one of the seven royal centers of Kona in the 1700s, because of its sheltered bay and abundance of natural resources.
Kaʻawaloa, meaning ' the distant ʻawa plant', is a flat, fan-shaped lava peninsula near sea level, which rises gradually to the edge of the 600-ft Pali Kapu O Keōua. Historically, Kaʻawaloa was the royal burial grounds of Hawaiʻi’s rulers and their families, including Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling chief in power when Captain Cook sailed into Kealakekua Bay.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Hawaiian, American missionary, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean & Filipino
The Kepaniwai Park and Heritage Gardens is a peaceful place to experience various cultural buildings; it was created as tribute and a memorial to Maui’s multi-cultural diversity.
Started in 1952, the park contains several monuments and replica buildings commemorating the Hawaiian, American missionary, Chinese, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and Filipino cultures that make up a significant part of Hawaiʻi’s cultural mix.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Coconut Grove
In 1906, Albert and Fred Waterhouse were walking over sand dunes along the approximately one-mile wide by two-and-a-half-mile long area between Kawainui Marsh and the ocean, when they envisioned the idea of planting coconut trees there. They “leveled the sand dunes and smoothed out the sand hillocks,” and planted approximately 320-acres with over 130,000-coconut trees.
Many rows of ironwood trees were also planted as a windbreak and a fence had to be built to keep cattle out. It didn’t last. … In 1916, the copra/coconut oil enterprise failed. Later, in 1924, Earl H Williams, of Liberty Investment Co, acquired 200-acres and began the subdivision process (the Coconut Grove Tract.) At the end of World War II, Kailua began a real estate and development boom.

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Where Curtis Lived
AG Curtis and his wife Virginia H Curtis acquired about 100-acres of land in 1900 outside of Olaʻa; at the time, Olaʻa was one of Hawaiʻi Island’s main coffee growing areas. Curtis grew sugar cane and rubber trees. He started a general store, with a post office, at ‘11 miles’ (as the town was colloquially called.)
He later sold the property, but the growing community was named ‘Kurtistown’ in his honor. (They explained, “The name was spelled ‘Kurtis’ instead of ‘Curtis’ because there is no ‘C’ in the Hawaiian alphabet.” In doing so, they overlooked that the Hawaiian language does not have the letters ‘R,’ ‘S’ or ‘T’ either.)

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Hale Kilo Hoku
“In ancient times, the class of people studying the positions of the moon, the rising and setting of certain fixed stars and constellations, and also of the sun, are called the kilo-hoku or astrologers. Their observations of these heavenly bodies might well be called the study of astronomy.”
Hawaiʻi’s last King, Kalākaua, has been referred to as a Renaissance man. While seeking to revive many elements of Hawaiian culture that were slipping away, the King also promoted the advancement of modern sciences, art and literature … and astronomy.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Garden Contest
“Impressed with the barrenness of plantation camps, Mr Scudder arranged for a supply of government seeds and shrubs. He then offered prizes … In a few months' time, districts without grass or trees were converted into what, comparatively speaking, might well be termed veritable beauty spots.”
Then, the Star-Bulletin sponsored the contest. In January, 1917, the Honolulu Star- Bulletin began an interesting experiment in the form of a school and home garden contest in cooperation with the school department, offering a series of prizes for the best gardens on each of the islands.

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Irwin Park
The Honolulu Waterfront Development Project, introduced by Governor Lucius E Pinkham and the Board of Harbor Commissioners in 1916, was declared to be the “most important project ever handled in Honolulu Harbor.” The project began in 1916 with the construction of new docks; it continued in 1924 with the construction of Aloha Tower.
On September 3, 1930, the Territory of Hawai‘i agreed to accept the donation of land from Hélène Irwin Fagan to honor her father and that it be maintained as a "public park to beautify the entrance to Honolulu Harbor." The Honolulu Waterfront Development Project was completed in 1934 with the creation of a 2-acre oasis shaded by the canopies of monkeypod trees.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Club Jetty
“No Tank Tops, No Shorts, No Bare Feet.” Club Jetty resembles the scene from an old Bogie flick. There are places like it in Singapore and Hong Kong and Macao. Fans spin overhead. Guests dine of Formica-topped tables.
Club Jetty opened in 1946; it evolved from ‘Hale Aina’ (Kauai’s first steak house.) Later it moved to a larger building along the jetty at Nāwiliwili Harbor … it became Club Jetty. Unfortunately, like other iconic remnants of the past, Club Jetty was destroyed in 1992 by Hurricane Iniki.

Club Jetty
“No Tank Tops, No Shorts, No Bare Feet.” Club Jetty resembles the scene from an old Bogie flick. There are places like it in Singapore and Hong Kong and Macao. Fans spin overhead. Guests dine of Formica-topped tables.
Club Jetty opened in 1946; it evolved from ‘Hale Aina’ (Kauai’s first steak house.) Later it moved to a larger building along the jetty at Nāwiliwili Harbor … it became Club Jetty. Unfortunately, like other iconic remnants of the past, Club Jetty was destroyed in 1992 by Hurricane Iniki.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Hilo
The name ‘Hilo’ carries several meanings. Hilo is the name of a renowned Polynesian navigator who is believed to have discovered this coast. His chief, to honor the feat, named the area for him. Hilo means "twisted," like a thread or rope as in spun, drawn out and twisted into thread.
Hilo is the name of the first day of the month according to Hawaiian calculation (the first night of the new moon - the first thin, twisted sliver of light.) (It was a favorable day, and the potato, melon and banana seeds planted by the farmer on this day would bear well. While we call the district and broad Bay Hilo, there are three parts of Hilo: Hilo Pali Kū, Hilo One and Hilo Hanakāhi.

About Me

I am a lifetime resident of Hawai`i. I’ve been in the private sector for 30-years, 2-years in County Administration and 4 1/2-years in State Administration. Our firm, Ho`okuleana LLC, is a planning and consulting firm assisting property owners with land use planning efforts, including environmental review, entitlement process, permitting, community outreach, etc.
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About the historical posts … in an effort to provide brief background summaries of various people, places and events in Hawaiʻi, I make informal compilations from a variety of sources. These are not intended to be technical reference documents; rather they are assemblages of information and images from various sources. In many cases, specific citations and attributions are often omitted. The images and text in various posts are from various sources and are presented for personal, non-commercial and/or educational purposes.